My End and My Beginning
by RagingRainbowRattlesnek
Summary: You're crazy and I'm out of my mind. Tyzula Advent oneshot.


MY END AND MY BEGINNING

* * *

STARS

In the Earth Kingdom, during the war, Azula and Ty Lee lay outside looking up at the stars. They were so much brighter and more crisp here compared to the Fire Nation.

"The stars make me feel so lonely," mused Ty Lee, eyes glassy in the pale moonlight.

"You're never lonely. You've never been lonely. You don't even know the meaning of the word."

Ty Lee held back a frown. She knew it was overbold but something about the full moon and strands of the galaxy like dust in the sky gave her bravery unlike any she had ever before known.

"I know," she said softly, "I'm always around people and I have so many friends but really… I'm lonely."

"So?"Azula rolled her eyesd very pointedly.

Ty Lee took in a big breath, fingers twitching to grab Azula's hand before denying that impulse last minute. "So, if I may, I think you're lonely too. And I think we could maybe be lonely together."

Ty Lee expected recourse.

But Azula simply glanced at her and said one word.

"Maybe."

SNOW

"I now have another reason to hate this island," said Azula, and, truthfully, the island hated her too, but even the livid and traumatized Suki was persuaded to occasionally let her best warrior see her own wife.

But no one treated Azula anywhere near well. Nor did the weather, apparently.

"Sometimes we get snowed in. It's okay, I promise. I'll do whatever I can."

"I am supposed to be going back to the Fire Nation today!"

Ty Lee daringly touched her hand. "It's more time for us to be together."

Azula pulled away. "I'm fixing this."

"How?"

"I can fix it with fire."

"That seriously has to stop being your solution to everything." Ty Lee shivered, teeth still chattering wildly.

"Watch your mouth. It's a very viable option at the moment!"

Ty Lee suppressed a sigh as Azula shoved open the snow-soaked door and proved that — at least in this situation — things could be fixed by fire.

Spirits help Azula's beloved wife.

BAD KIDS

Ty Lee truly wished that she could go shopping with her best friends without Azula threatening execution to anyone.

Today the princess was at least in a rather good mood. Conquering Ba Sing Se last week did that for a person. Even Mai seemed more pleasant. Although that might just be because she was finally getting laid. Ty Lee wished she was. But only with one person, and that person resisted the evident but unspoken attraction.

But then a man wolf whistled. He stood in a crowd of boys in clothing that was meant to make them look bad, but in this area of Caldera it just looked ridiculous.

They ignored them.

"Hey you!" the idiot called. "Hey, you in pink! Nice tits!"

Ty Lee rolled her eyes.

Azula overreacted. "How dare he. I will eat his heart in the middle of this marketplace!"

Azula started storming towards him. Ty Lee began to reach for her but recoiled at the last minute.

Mai touched Azula's shoulder. "The odds are very, very high of this going very, very wrong."

"Never tell me the odds." And Azula ignored her, striding over. She grabbed the boy by the shoulders and pinned him to the wall. His friends just watched, two of them chuckling. "Do you know who I am?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you up close!"

"You certainly saw my friend close enough to behave completely against your own best interest. One little lie and I could have you executed."

"Please! I'm sorry! I didn't know she was your girlfriend!"

"She's not —" Azula hesitated and then slammed him against the wall. Hard. He yelped. "Go over there and apologize to my girlfriend."

"Yes, Princess!"

She smirked as he scuttled frantically to Ty Lee.

BARTENDER

Ty Lee beamed as she danced. And as Azula walked in, pretending her attendance was accidental, she was almost blinded by the radiance. It struck her like lightning.

Azula went to get a drink and started to regret her choice to come here. She knew Ty Lee would be here tonight but tried to convince herself that her lie was true.

She downed her drink in one gulp and started to leave before familiar fingers tapped on her shoulder. Azula could know any touch from Ty Lee. Even after all of this time, she could know her silhouette in a room full of shadows.

"Princess, it's been so long." Ty Lee forced a smile that trembled and twitched nervously as Azula turned around to face her.

"It has been so long for good reason."

"I know," admitted Ty Lee. "But, uh, uhm, can I buy you a drink?"

Five shots of sake later, the two girls sat at a table together. They had barely spoken. Ty Lee chatted with the bartender while Azula drank in silence.

But now they lost their inhibitions and therefore lost their ability to avoid conversation.

"Did you stop loving me?" Ty Lee boldly asked.

"No." Azula did not know why she said that other than the fact that her lips were loose and her head was fuzzy. "But that doesn't mean I want to be with you again. I still love how you made me feel. That doesn't mean I still love you."

"I would be with you again. It's been four years. A lot can change in that long a time."

"Loving you," admits Azula, "has only brought me pain. I doubt that will change."

"But you're here with me."

"I came to see you to remind myself not to miss you."

"So you knew I would be here?"

"Yes. But I regret it. I should go before I say anything else I regret or throttle that bartender who was flirting with you." Azula shakily stood up and started to turn towards the door.

"Azula!" called out Ty Lee. The princess turned back around. Softly, Ty Lee said, "I'm glad you came."

In silence, Azula left.

IMMORTAL

Shortly before the Eclipse, Azula and Ty Lee sat across from each other on Azula's bed.

It was not a happy day and on a rare occasion, Ty Lee was devoid of hope.

Yet, Azula said crisply, "I love my father. I respect him. But I think… I think that in this he is wrong."

"Really?" Ty Lee tried desperately to conceal the hope swelling in her sore heart.

"I think we can last. I think we can stick it out. This is not a teenage fling. We both know it is different. It is as immortal as my name."

"I love you."

Azula smirked victoriously.

They kissed.

LUCKY

"Why did you choose to forgive me?"

"You know very well why, Ty Lee. My forgiveness is a luxury of which you are hardly deserving but I chose to, and one must not question my motives."

Unexpectedly, Ty Lee burst into tears. Azula stood there, stunned, unsure what to do.

Ty Lee eked out through sobs, "I feel luckier than I ever have but you can take it away. You probably will take it away. I know you."

"… You're kind of an ugly crier," commented Azula.

But she softly kissed Ty Lee on the lips anyway.

Ty Lee sniffles and then started sobbing again.

"Please don't take this away."

Azula turned Ty Lee's chin up to face her. They locked eyes.

The princess gave her an honest answer.

"I won't take it away. I never will."

Ty Lee smiled through her tears.

RESPECTABLE

"I don't just want this. I need this."

"This is the celebration of Zuko's daughter, the crown princess of the Fire Nation, and you must, for once in your life, not dress as a tacky whore with wildly low self esteem and the fashion sense of an eight year old."

Ty Lee leaned in and kissed Azula passionately.

"Please?" she whispered, batting her eyelashes.

"If and only if you allow me to select the rest of your attire and make you look respectable."

"Oh thank you, thank you!"

Ty Lee hugged Azula tightly and kissed her on the cheek through her smile.

Azula blushed.

COZY

Azula and Ty Lee lay in bed together as the sun rose, painting the sky pink and letting golden light shine through their bedroom windows.

It was Ty Lee's favorite part of their marriage, even after four years. Just lying in bed with her for those sparse quiet morning moments, resting her head on Azula's shoulder with her eyes softly closed as they clung loosely together in silence.

"I am so perfectly in love with you right now," whispered Ty Lee into Azula's neck.

Azula closed her eyes and smiled.

FAMILY

Azula never thought this would be her life. She never thought she would be on her knees playing with two of her own children, even though when she was the heir apparent she knew she would one day have to reproduce to keep her crown.

Ty Lee giggled as they played with the dolls together with one daughter. She was so like Ty Lee. The same smile. The same laugh. All of the little things.

Azula, on the other hand, was in the midst of a play fight with a daughter who took after her and despised dolls. She lit one on fire and for the first time they were certain she was truly Azula's daughter.

Perhaps that was a perk of the non traditional. A mother for one child, a different mother for the other, but a family all the same.

As they played, Azula and Ty Lee caught each other's gaze.

Ty Lee smiled.

Azula looked away to hide her own.


End file.
